Seely Place Elementary School
Edgemont School District, Scarsdale, NY
Photo from Seely Website
This Poetry Friday I could not be more thrilled to welcome the wise and talented poets from Mrs. Borella and Mr. Levin's fourth grade class at Seely Place Elementary in the Edgemont School District in Scarsdale, NY. Welcome, poets!
I was lucky enough to visit Seely Place again a couple of weeks ago, but I did not expect the wonderful surprise of reuniting with some of the fourth graders I met two years ago when I visited them as second graders during my first Seely visit. As it happened, last month these same students, now fourth graders, were reading one of my poems in class and writing many of their own. Fortunately for me, they invited me in to their classroom so that I could enjoy some of their poetry and learn about their process. Needless to say, the students are taller, have more teeth, and are both accomplished poets and thoughtful humans.
Photo by Mrs. Borella/Mr. Levin
Long before I arrived, these students read the below list poem, one I shared at my blog years ago.
And then, Mrs. Borella and Mr. Levin invited them to write It's ok list poems of their own as a kickoff to the class's poetry unit. You can follow this teaching process below.
Click to Enlarge
These final pieces became part of a class book for everyone to enjoy and learn from. I wish that my own younger self had received this kind and thoughtful advice and appreciate it now as an older self.
And those precious photographs? Well, Mrs. Borella wrote to the students' families before the unit and asked - in secret - for each family to send a photo of their child as a little one to serve as inspiration...and to bring joy to the whole project.
Read the Pages!
One thing that struck me in these poems - besides the most adorable photographs and great advice - is the very true rhyming. You will not find forced rhyme here. Students used all kinds of techniques to find rhymes from listing rhyming words to substituting synonyms to moving words around. They shared some of these strategies with me, and we had a great poet-to-poet conversation about the importance and how-to of keeping our rhyme meaningful.
Buffy is hosting this week's Poetry Friday roundup over at Buffy Silverman with a mask poem in the voice of a hognose snake - three acts! Each Friday, all are invited to share poems, poem books, poetry ideas, and friendship in this open and welcoming poetry community. If you would like to visit my 2024 National Poetry Month Project - ONE MORE OR LESS LINE CROW - you may do so HERE. Much gratitude to anyone and everyone who commented along the way...it can get lonely in here.
I wish you a week of kindness to yourself. If you have a difficult day, I suggest rereading one of these students' poems. And please do leave them a comment if you would be so kind.
xo,
Please share a comment below if you wish.
Know that your comment will only appear after I approve it.
If you are under 13 years old, please only comment
with a parent or as part of a group with your teacher.